World

Mar. 05, 2014 | 08:45 PM (Last updated: March 05, 2014 | 09:15 PM)

NATO steps up Ukraine cooperation, reviews it with Russia

European Union Council President Herman Van Rompuy (R) welcomes NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, prior to a meeting at the EU Council building in Brussels, on March 5, 2014. (AFP PHOTO / THIERRY CHARLIER)

BRUSSELS: NATO is stepping up its cooperation with Ukraine but reviewing "an entire range" of cooperation with Russia, the secretary-general of the alliance, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said Wednesday.

Speaking after talks with Moscow's ambassador to NATO, Rasmussen said "an entire range of NATO-Russia cooperation is under review", including the suspension of a joint mission involving the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons.

At the same time NATO will "intensify our partnership with Ukraine, and strengthen our cooperation to support democratic reforms".

The alliance will "step up" engagement with Ukraine's leaders, both civilian and military, and help boost its army, including with more joint training and exercises.

Rasmussen said the situation in Ukraine "presents serious implications for the security and stability" of the region and that Russia "continues to violate" Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The 28-nation alliance in consequence will suspend its first joint mission with Russia, the maritime escort for the U.S. ship Cape Ray, which will neutralise Syria's chemical weapons.

The destruction of the weapons would go ahead nonetheless, he stresses.

NATO also decided to suspend staff-level civilian and military meetings with Russia "for now".

"We have put the entire range of NATO-Russia cooperation under review. NATO Foreign Ministers will take decisions on this in early April.

But NATO was keeping the door open for political dialogue and was therefore ready to maintain meetings of ambassadors in the NATO-Russia Council, such as one that took place Wednesday, Rasmussen noted.

Entities

Comments

Your feedback is important to us!

We invite all our readers to share with us their views and comments about this article.

Disclaimer: Comments submitted by third parties on this site are the sole responsibility of the individual(s) whose content is submitted. The Daily Star accepts no responsibility for the content of comment(s), including, without limitation, any error, omission or inaccuracy therein. Please note that your email address will NOT appear on the site.

Alert: If you are facing problems with posting comments, please note that you must verify your email with Disqus prior to posting a comment. follow this link to make sure your account meets the requirements. (http://bit.ly/vDisqus)